The Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Vincenzo Grassi, took the floor today during the biennial panel discussion on youth and human rights, focused on the theme “Young people’s engagement with climate change and global environmental decision-making processes”, in the framework of the 54th session of the Human Rights Council.
Ambassador Grassi pointed out the acceleration of the adverse effects of climate change, mentioning heat waves, floods, droughts, melting glaciers and fires. In this regard, he urged to tackle this challenge by joining forces and actions, also in view of the upcoming COP28 and the Italian Presidency of the G7 in 2024.
“The engagement of youth in climate change and global environmental decision-making processes is one of Italy’s key priorities”, he stated, recalling that in 2021 Italy hosted the “Youth4Climate” meeting which allowed young people from all over the world to participate in the Pre-COP process and is now become a permanent platform.
Ambassador Grassi also confirmed Italy’s support to education and training initiatives for young people on climate change, energy and ecological transition. He highlighted that last December Italy, in cooperation with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), launched a training programme for young climate leaders and activists in over 80 countries and developed a toolkit, called “I ACT”, which will serve as the basis for a first phase of “training of trainers”.
“We remain committed to fostering youth participation in order to guarantee their crucial contribution to realizing the right of everyone to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment and to achieving progress in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, he concluded.
Read the full statement here.
